Final Moments of Mohammad Kamaruzzaman: Recollections of a witness

The following was recollected by Atiqur Rahman, the Secretary General of Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir at a program in Dhaka in the aftermath of the hanging of Kamaruzzaman. He mentioned that this was shared with him by a senior leader, who had heard it from a senior official at Dhaka Central Jail.

Final moments of Kamaruzzaman:

After meeting with relatives, he returned to his cell and took a bath. Then he performed Salaat. After performing Salaat, he started reading the Quran. There was intensity and urgency in his reading the Quran. Later, two of the executioners came to his cell 10 minutes before the scheduled time of hanging in order to accompany him to the gallows. They found him deep in prayer, performing salaat. After finishing Salaat, Kamaruzzaman turned to face his executioners and heard then out. Hearing that they had come to take him, he asked them, “Is my time over? If there is some more time, then I want to perform Salaat.”

His response left the executioners stunned, and they couldn’t respond. Kamaruzzaman continued praying Salaat.

Hearing about what had happened; the official in charge himself went to see Kamaruzzaman. In the same manner, Kamaruzzaman asked him for some more time, “Is my time over? If I have some more time…….”

In this manner, he performed Salaat for 10-15 more minutes, and then embarked on supplication (munajat) to his Creator. An aura of restlessness overcame him as he neared the end of the supplication, whereby he abruptly stood up and declared that he was ready to go. Then, walking briskly with his head held high, he arrived at the gallows.

According to the prison official who was present at the time, he said, “I have witnessed many hangings in my time, and I don’t know about what will happen to the other Jamaat leaders, but I have never witnessed anything like this in my life.”

Describing what he witnessed, the prison official further said, “In the munajat (supplication) that he performed, there were no words for his family or nothing against those who had done this (injustice) towards him. In his last supplication, he prayed for the people of his country; for the Islamic movement; for the youth of the society, especially the youth of Chhatra Shibir. He was saying, ‘the youth have given blood for the cause of this ideology. If the shedding of my blood brings about the success of the Islamic movement in exchange, this will be success’.”